Born 1654 in Laufen (Bavaria), died 1730 in Vienna. He first learned painting from his mother, then in 1676 he went to Venice, where he remained in Karl Loth’s workshop for thirteen years. Rottmayr’s works from this period are not known. After his return north he was active in various places in Austria and in Moravia and from 1696 onwards in Vienna, where he settled permanently and which he left only to fulfil important commissions. In 1704 he was raised to the nobility with the title of von Rosenbrunn. We know many of his large paintings and frescoes, while small-size paintings, sketches and drawings are rare; his style is based on figural and spatial models of the Italian Baroque, blended with motifs of Flemish origin, while he was also influenced by Pietro da Cortona, Giovanni Lanfranco and others, amalgamated with the influence of Peter Paul Rubens.
Lit.: Erich Hubala: Johann Michael Romnayr, Wien-München 1981.